Another week, and we´re already halfway through, and a Catholic meeting.

Date:  May 18, 2015
Area:  Tanchi, Guatemala
Companion:  Elder Kortsen
Week 73

It´s actually quite surprising that I´m already halfway through this change, it´s already been three weeks since I entered into Tanchi, time has been flying by and it has been a fun time with Elder Kortsen. We speak Spanish outside of the house when we´re not speaking Q´eqchi´ and we speak English in the house and we only study Q´eqchi´ during study time. It´s all working out.

So this week we had a great Zone meeting where we learned more from the teaching of Elder Alonso, the focus of the time was that we need to have a larger focus on finding those that are ready and thus we need to find as many new investigators as possible in order to do such a thing. So we´ve been trying to do that and we have found a couple of new people.

Bacon and Nutella sandwich

We found José and his family recently, I don´t quite remember if we actually found them last week, but I´m sure that this is the first time we tried to get them to church, they didn´t go to church though, and that was because José had to go to his sister´s house because she called him up due to being sick and so he wasn´t able to go and his wife didn´t want to go without him which was a little sad.

I had a talk in church yesterday, I talked about how we need to serve others and one of the best ways we can do that is by sharing the gospel with the people around us and moving foreward the work of God, because when we are working with God in His work we get to feel his love not only for us but for every single one of his children. Missionaries should know this quite well.

Sunday we also had an interesting experience with Catholics. So we were visiting the hous of  Elias and they have a statue of Christ in a case and other statues of the virgin Mary. We went over and found benches up and I asked what the benches were for but no one would answer me, a few moments later we found out why as a lot of kids came in. It was a Catholic Sunday school class and we decided it might be good to leave but Elias´ wife told us to sit and she gave us a drink and some bread probably to make us stay.

It was an interesting experience to be sure, it made me question why we don´t use incense, I remember seeing it appear in the Bible but why don´t we use it. Simply because that was part of the law of Moses that was done away with and so it´s not a necessary thing for prayers or worship services and then if you look in Isaiah 1:13 it says that incense is an abomination, but he was speaking to Apostate Israel at the time so it was an abomination because

they were unworthy.

So, we had a fun week, we also did some hiking to farther areas of are area to see what we could find there, good views and some awesome people, it was a little hot and we did get caught in the rain, but we bought some Kawachin capes and that was good.

No mail this week as I know, I havn´t visited the offices yet today. hehe.

May the spirit be with you,

Elder North

Mother's Day

Getting to talk to our boy.

Date:  May 11, 2015
Area: Tanchi, Guatemala
Companion:  Elder Kortsen
Week 72

We had a very great week plan but it ended up not being as awesome as we thought it would be because a lot of things seemed to just suck up our time and the week was suddenly gone.

So a bit about my area, I love it, it´s not exactly the huge mountains like in Polochic, but there are mountains and the area is huge, there are a lot of paths that go around and over each little mountain, it´s not too hard to get around and the weather is really good here, I got used to sweating and now i don´t have to do that.

I have been getting nasty bug bites, I at first thought it was from mosquitos and then later figured out that it was probably from fleas in my bed because mosquito bites are different, so I changed my sheets and washed my blankets and that seems to have made a difference.

We did have a fun adventure with a spider, it was above my bed on the wall, a large one, so Elder Kortsen and I armed ourselves with brooms and did a countdown and attacked the beast....... We missed..... I skimmed it´s legs and so it fell from the wall down towards my bed and then it disappeared.... I slept a little less comfortably that night as thoughts of a vengeful spider crawled in my thoughts. The spider has not been seen since.

We had a wonderful conference with Elder Alonso from the first quorum of the seventy on Friday, he is a very powerful speaker and very intelligent and thanks to his counsel we have made some changes over the past week and feel like it is making an impact. One of the changes is being more confident, why shouldn´t we be? We are servants and represetitives of the living God!

I got to  talk to my family and the soon to be added sister Arley yesterday, those calls never seem to be long enough yet I know I´ll have hours to talk to them after the mission, this was also my last call home while in the mission field.

Things are picking up and slowing down in one way or another in Tanchi, but we have investigators coming to church that we didn´t think would come and that made us really happy. Now to find more people to come as well.

I love you all, thanks for the smiles, even if I can´t see them.

Elder Norte

Tanchi adventures

Date:  May 4, 2015

Area:  Tanchi, Guatemala

Companion:  Elder Kortsen from Arizona 

Week 71

Week one in Tanchi has been an awesome experience, my language skills are just way better than they were before and I feel like I am talking to the people really well in Qeqchi and the occasional Spanish.

Elder Kortsen is a great companion, a lot easier to make connections when you come from pretty much the same life style and speak in English, it´s actually kind of weird to be speaking in English but it´s been a lot fun working with Elder Kortsen.

The work in Tanchi is progressing really well, we have a couple people getting ready to get baptized.

I also had the fun opportunity to go on divisions with the assistants, it turned out to be rather fun, Elder Orosco is a great guy and we have similar interests, unfortunately we didn´t get to do a lesson that day and we pretty much contacted the whole day and getting me out of my comfort zone and I even did get better at it within the day.

The week went by really quickly because of the changes and because of the division with the assistants. I had about two days in the area and they both went really well, we found some new investigators that look like they are going to really progress. I huge family, the Dad seems kind of set in his ways but the children are very receptive, so maybe we baptise them first and then the parents.

All the members seem to love me hear and they seem rather impressed with my ability with their language and that´s a good thing.

I got a whole bunch of letters today, one from Mom, Jessy and Sister Barnson, two from Grandma Mary and another from Grandma North. I think I´m forgetting one or two but it was awesome to get today. Keep them coming and for the time they actually get to me faster because I´m not far away from Coban, I´ll be trying to return letters as well.

I love you all,

Elder Norte

The sounds of a dying missionary.

Date:  April 27, 2015
Area:  Sacshua, Guatemala
Companion:  Elder Menjivar
Week:  70

If you´re wondering what a dying missionary actually sounds like it´s not a terror filled sound that would make fingernails on a chalkboard seem like a kitten purr but it´s actually the sound of expectation and packing things and some complaining that there are too many things to fit in two suitcases. My companion Elder Menjivar has gone the way of the earth and is on his way back home, granted he will actually get on the bus to El Salvador on Thursday but you all can go along with it.

What does that mean for me? It means that I am garunteed to get a new companion, which for me isn´t the most exciting event in the world due to my shyish demeanor, but then I got unexpected and frankly exciting news, I have a transfer to a new area. This is surprising because it means two new missionaries go into Sacsuha which can be a little hard on them and it´s surprising because I didn´t have that much time in Sacsuha, only two transfers.

So, my next adventure is to be founded in the area Tanchi which is closer to Cobán. I am actually going to have all of my p-days in Cobán and technically I´m out of the Polochic but I am still in a Q´eqchi´ speaking area. My new companion is Elder Kortson, I´m finally getting another Northamerican companion that I´ve met before in the mission, so that´s got me a little bit more excited.

One of the good news that I get by being closer to Cobán is that it is much easier for me to send and receive letters and I will certainly be trying to make use of that availability that I lacked down in the valley.

Our last Saturday in Sacsuha brought exciting news as we had a baptism, the baptism of Floricelda that I´ve been talking about for a while. The baptism was delayed because the whole district was doing an activity the same day and they needed the use of the chapel for a little bit and after it needed to be cleaned, but that´s alright, a cleaner baptism is certainly what everyone wants. Besides that the baptism went really smoothly without any troubles.

The rest of our Saturday and then Sunday after church was really busy as we were invited to birthday parties and we said farewell to all of the members and some of the investigators that lived nearby and packing during the night. Surprisingly I got all of my stuff packed faster than Elder Menjivar and he knew that he was going home before I knew I was getting transfered out. I guess I´m really good at packing things and fitting different shaped things in a box like shape.... Tetris anyone?

As for the rest of the week, it went by normally, we did find a very good possibility and I was excited to teach Jorge and his family but that priveledge will have to go to the Elder Perez and Elder Murdock (MUUUUUUUURRRRRDOOOOOCKKKK)

I did get some mail today, three letters from Grandma Mary all of them from March, confusingly they had Christmas themed pictures, but the content was very awesome and fun to read.

I hope you all had as good a week as I did.

Elder Norte

The sun, it burns!

Date:  April 20, 2015

Area:  Sacshua, Guatemala

Companion:  Elder Menjivar

Week:  69

This week has been stupid hot, so hot that we don`t want to go out in the streets to contact or to do anything, but what has to been done has to be done. They say it`s because they`re burning the cane sugar fields as well which does make sense, it pushes all the heat towards our end of the valley in combination with the normal heat and humidity that we enjoy here..... I miss snow, thanks for the cooling pictures this week from Mom.

This week I recieved some mail, one from Mom and one from Grandma Mary, letters are always amazing to get and I love them. Keep them coming.

We`ve been going around this week making sure that Juan and Irene are still on point for baptism, they do actually need to have the DPI physically in order to get married and this pushes back thier date a month but it will happen and you all will hear about it when it does, with pictures of course.

We`ve also been working a lot with Floricelda, sometimes she wasn`t home and that`s a little bit frustrating when her baptism date is getting every day closer, but she`ll be ready for next week!

Planning has been working and getting us out and ready for the day, a good start to a day really makes the rest of the day go better. So.... Yeah.

I love you all,

Elder Norte

Interview week to pump things up a bit.

Date:  April 13, 2015

Area:  Sacshua, Guatemala

Companion:  Elder Menjivar

Week:  68

As the title says we had some interviews with our awesome president of mission Presidente Curtiss, we had these on Wednesday and I always go into them a little nervous yet excited because I always come out pumped up and ready to work, and plus the slight nervousness goes away as soon as the interview actually starts, this time around we talked about planning and how that can springboard the missionaries into all of their activities for the day and the week as we plan everyday and once a week we plan for the next week, if you do it right it really helps more, if you´re lazy about it I´ve found out that you kind of go into the next day with a feeling of "what next?" because I am sure that every missionary has had those days where they just don´t plan that efficiently, I know I have. Or.... Havn´t. Anyway, in the interviews we also get an assignment by hermana Curtiss, last time we had interviews our assignment was about the atonement, this time around we are learning more about the priesthood and it´s keys. So if you have any fun things you find then tell me.

We also had divisions this week as well, I went to La Tinta the land of my birth with Elder Lagunes and he showed me around the side of La Tinta I wasn´t at when I was there, so that was actually a pretty fun experience, I got to meet with some old investigators, converts and members and meet new people as well so it was all a fun blast.

Aside from that we now have someone else on date for baptism, her name is Floricelda, she is ten years old and her parents are members and they actually live really close to us yet we actually didn´t know that she wasn´t baptized untill now, so that actually is pretty cool, it´s getting the whole family more interested in the church yet again and they are doing wonderful.

It´s been a fantastic week and I´m looking forward to two more weeks with my companion Elder Menjivar as he only has two weeks left in his mission, he´s getting baggy (known as trunky in some places) but he´s still going strong.

I´m out untill next week,

Elder North

General Conference weekend

Date:  April 6, 2015

Area:  Sacshua, Guatemala

Companion:  Elder Menjivar

Week:  67

General Conference has finally come and then it went away just as quickly, but it was a good time of two days filled with wonderful talks, Conference weekend is kind of like the vacation weekend for the missionaries, we relax a little more just to listen to talks and we don`t have to walk as much, but obviously we still work and we help others have a wonderful experience.

I spent most of the conference watching in Sacsuha, I spent a session in La Tinta with the others, while in Sacsuha I was alone watching in English. Which was a wonderful experience because it felt really personal.

The Saturday sessions certainly were all focused on the family and how important it is and preparing to have a family and family, family, family. That is a very awesome topic, family is important.

Sunday had it`s focus on the Savior and His sacrifice for us, a very appropriate topic as for Easter, the most sacred day of the year. I was able to really relate to many of the talks and I found an answer to a really deep personal doubt, that`s what the spirit does. I hope that many of you found counsel and comfort or any other sort of awesomeness while watching and listening to these wonderful messages about our beloved Lord Jesus Christ.

If you didn't get a chance to watch or listen you can check out the talks here:

https://www.lds.org/general-conference/sessions/2015/04?lang=eng

We had many investigators at the conference, and Irene and Juan are progressing really well, we will be visiting the municipal office in La Tinta to further their process along to getting married.

I love you all!
Elder North